Song film, method of using said film, and process of manufacturing the same



W. J. CONKIE SONG FILI, IETHOD OF USING SAID FIII,

1,930,552 AND PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAIE nil-dancing HONOLULU M00" "r TIJ Lpmtncc Filed Feb. 2,

1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 z I /a U1 I 31:1 x li-D :1 1:1

7719M (Zn I:

Oct. 17, 1933.

W. J. CONKIE SONG FILM, METHOD OF USING SAID FILM,

AND

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME Filed Feb. 2, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mu I Lvnnngm an gmnntov 4 2/00 J/i/ (aw/r4" Patented Oct. 17, 1933 l ATENT. OFFICE SONG FILM, METHOD OF USING SAID FIIM, AND PROCESS OF MANUFACTUR- INGTHE SAME Waldo John Conkie, Denver, Colo., assignor to Fred B. Wright, Denver, 0010., trustee Application February 2, .1928. Serial No. 251,290

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a film for use in a motion picture machine for projecting the words of a song for community singing purposes. The

film is designed to enable an orchestra, organist,

or other musician or musical mechanism to synchronize the music with the words of a song as they are projected on the projection screen.

There have been many attempts made to produce song films but these attempts have not 10 been successful-because of the fact it was impossible for the musician to know at what tempo the film was being projected on the screen and as a result the musician would-either reach the end of his musical score before the verse would change upon the screen or the verse would end before he had completed the accompanying music. As a result of this, it was necessary for him to either slur or fake the closing measures or hold the final chord for an unreasonable length of time. I

Attempts have been made to correct this by timing-a song with stop watches and attempting to correspondingly time the film. These attempts have also been failures since it was impossible for the same musician to play the same song twice in the same tempo. Complete verses for community singing purposes have been thrown upon the screen from slides and the musician has attempted by emphasis on the beats in his playing to carry the audience through the verse at the proper tempo. This procedure is very unsatisfactory except where the songs are very familiar to the audience. Musicians in the audience can carry the verse in time with the music but the great majority read the verse as rapidly as possible and when they have finished, allow their attention to stray to the organist or other objects in the house and lose interest and attention.

The principle object of the invention is to provide a system whereby any desired song can be easily and accurately translated to the frames of a film so that the song words will always be in exact synchronism to the melody of the music regardless of any human element.

Another object of this invention is to provide a song film which will give the musician his exact tempo before the verse starts so that his music will be in synchronism with the words as they appear upon the screen.

Still another object of the invention is to project the verse or words of a song in exact syn-' chronism to the tempo which has previously been given by the film to the musician, thus making it impossible for the singers to precede the music.

A further object of the invention is to provide a film which will prevent the audience from allowing its attention to stray from the projec- 50 tion'screen during long holds in the music and between verses or rests therein.

A still further object is to provide a system by means of which song films for any song and any tempo can be produced in the laboratory, without the necessity for timing or proportioning the music, which, when thrown on the screen, will always synchronize the song 7 words with the song music.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail and uses of the invention, which-is designed for simplicity, accuracy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawings and throughout the description.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates a typical title frame as used for introducing the-song film.

Fig. 2 illustrates a typical scene such as might be projected while the musician is playing the introduction to the song.

Fig. 3 illustrates the action of a typical animated figure such as may be employed to beat the time or set the tempo of a song. The various positions of the animation are indicated in broken line in this view.

Fig. 4 illustrates a typical action frame such as might be used to hold the audiences attention on the screen during long notes or rests.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration illustrating the mathematical relation between the film word frames and the melody notes and words of a song.

The average time required to run one thousand feet of film through a motion picture machine is 625 seconds. Standard motion picture films contain sixteen frames to the foot. Thus sixteen thousand frames pass through the ma chine in 625 seconds. By dividing 16,000 by 625 we find that 25.6 frames pass through the machine in one second. By playing a song at what is known as blues tempo, we find that two measures or eight beats are played every five seconds. Since the average film run is 128 frames in five seconds, we must divide 128 frames into 8 beats giving us sixteen frames to the beat 10 or to each quarter note in the musical score at .blues tempo.

From this I have determined by proportion of tempo, the number of frames required for the popular tempos are as follows:

Blues tempo, 5 seconds to 8 beats 16 frames per beat Moderato waltz, 4 seconds to 6 beats 12 frames per beat Fast fox trot, 3 seconds to 8 beats 10 frames per beat Moderato'waltz, 4 seconds to 6 beats 12 frames per beat Fast waltz, 3 seconds to 6 beats 10 frames per beat One step, 3 seconds to 8 beats 10 frames per beat Having arrived at the above set figures for every desired tempo it is then a simple matter to translate the beats or notes of any song into motion picture frames.

Such a translation is illustrated in Fig. 5 which is to be played as a fast waltz, that is, the film 'must carry 10 frames for every beat or quarter note, with three beats per measure. An eighth note will then-have five frames, a half note 20 frames, dotted quarter notes 15 frames, dotted half notes 30 frames, etc. In the drawings the required number of frames for each note and its corresponding song word'are illustrated immediately below that 'note on film strips 18.

The first note in the measures illustrated is a dotted quarter note; the word to be sung to this note is O'er. This word is shown, by itself, on 15 consecutive frames of the film as illustrated. The next note is an eighth note to which is to be sung the". On the sixteenth frame the word the" will appear after the word O'er. These two words appear together for five consecutive frames, this being the frame number of an eighth note. The next two notes accompanying the word drowsy are also eighth notes so that the first syllable drow will appear for five frames followed by the last syllable sy" for five frames, thus completing the first measure of three beats or thirty frames.

The first note of the next measure is a half note accompanied by the word blue. The word blue therefore must appear on the thirty-first frame and continue for twenty additional frames to be followed in the 52nd frame by the first syllable la of lagoon which, being accompanied by a quarter note, must appear for ten consecutive frames or one beat thus completing the second measure of thirty frames. The final syllable goon" occupies an entire measure, being a dotted half note. It therefore must appear for the entire measure count or thirty frames. This exact timing will continue throughout the entire length of the song.

It is necessary before the words begin to appear upon the screen that the organist or other musician, have started his music and if this music is not in the proper tempo that the subsequent words are to appear, confusion will result immediately upon the appearance of the words. To prevent this and to enable the musician to start his music in the exact tempo that the words are to appear is one of the ob- Jects of this invention.

My improved film is introduced by means of any suitable title frame such as illustrated at 10, Fig. 1. When the title has been shown the musician starts playing the introduction to the song. While this introduction is being played a pictorial scene, such as shown in Fig. 2 will be projected. Any desired scenes and figures may be used as desired, the ones illustrated will be described herein only as typical of the types and actions required.

In the scene of Fig. 2 the proscenium arch of a stage is shown with draperies or curtains 11. A girls head 13 appears through the curtains 11 in a spot light 12. This head moves during the playing of the introduction to the front of the stage and then to one side, thereof, as indicated by the arrows and broken line circles in this view, to the position indicated at A. This leaves the major portion of the frame clear for the appearance of the song words. The head 13 and the spot light 12 remain in view throughout the film as indicated in Fig. 6.

After a proper interval the head 13 will appear animated, for instance, the eyes will begin to move. This commencement of animation is a cue to the musician for the final chord of the song introduction. vided with tassels or earrings 14 which will now start to swing or move as indicated by the various broken line positions in Fig. 3.

The movement of the earrings 14 is definitely timed to a movement for each beat of the song, similarly to the. use of the baton ,by an orchestra leader. Thus in even beat tempos, they may be made to move upwardly a full stroke on the beat of four, downwardly a full stroke on the beat of "one, halfway up or one half stroke on the beat. of two, and downwardly a half stroke on the beat of three. Thus, in a moderato fox trot, strokes for the beats four and one, will each require 12 movements, one movement to a frame. The strokes for beats two" and three, will require but six movements, but they also must take up 12 frames so that each movement of these beats will occupy two frames on the film.

For odd beat tempos such as a waltz, the earrings would start to move on the beat of three" from a position halfway up. They would move upwardly to the top on the beat of three,

downwardly a full swing to the bottom on the beat of one, upwardly halfway on the beat of two, upwardly the remaining half on the beat of three. Thus for the fast waltz such as diagrammed in Fig. 6, the down stroke, one would have 10 movements with one frame per movement. up stroke two, 10 movements with two frames per movement, and the up stroke three 10 frames with two frames per movement.

This procedure could be carried out in a similar system for any desired tempo, the number of frames per movement being determined as previously described according to the tempo.

The musician will count his beats from these directing earrings and will'play the vamp or till ready" of the song in exact time therewith as though led by a leader or baton. This will definitely set the song tempo which he will maintain throughout the song. After a sufficient interval of beating the first song word will appear on the first melody note for that word. The musician will then play through the composition knowing at all times that he is striking the melody notes in exact synchronism to the appearance of the words accompanying those notes upon the screen.

It is not necessary that the musician know how many measures the animated figure is go- The head 13 may be proing to beat for in his vamping he will always be ready on the proper beat to start the song should the first word appear. If desired the film can be cued to indicate to the musician that the vamp is completed and that the first word will appear in the next following measure. This cue might be given in any desired way, such as by a movement of the eyes, of the head 13, or by a cessation of the movement in the earrings. Upon the appearance of this cue the musician will know that the next count one is the first beat of the first measure of the song proper. During the singing, the head 13 remains at rest so as not to detract attention from the song words. While I have illustrated a girls head with swinging earrings, it is desired to be understood that this is merely a suggestion as any other desired animation that could indicate the beats might be employed.

To prevent the attention of the audience from straying from the screen during long notes, such as goon of Fig. 6, or during rests or pauses, between verses and the like, I employ auxiliary animations such as indicated in Fig. 4. In this view other animated figures, such as indicated at 15 and 16 are caused to appear which carry on a pantomime action with the head 13. These figures fade out as the song words appear again so not to detract attention from the song.

Should it be desired during the song to change the tempo for any reason such asa retard, the

animated figure can start its beating upon the closing measure before the change and then change its beat for the changed measures. The musician will watch the directions of the animated figure and either retard or accelerate his music as indicated.

It is desired to call attention to the fact that the entire procedure is entirely independent of the projection machine operator. He does not have to set his machine for any desired tempo and can proceed with the song film at the'same speed he has been running his picture films. With previous attempts at synchronizing it was necessary that the projection operator set his machine at a certain tempo which was to be followed by the musician. This setting was often overlooked and as a result confusion resulted. With the present invention however, such confusion is impossible. The musician does not know the projection speed and does not care, since he will pick up his tempo at any speed the film is projected.

The invention is based upon the two measure principle. All music requires two measures to complete a musical phrase. By timing and proportioningthe beats for two measures I arrive at the standards shown in the tempo table,

supra.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, What I claim and desire secured by Letters Patent is:-

1. A method of preparing a song film for projecting the words of a song upon a projection screen in synchronism to the playing of the melody notes of said song comprising the determining of the time required to play a plurality of measures of said song; determining the approximate number of film frames necessary for a projection lasting the previously determined time; dividing the determined number of frames by the total number of beats in the measures played in that time to determine the number of frames required for each beat; photographing the word syllables accompanying each note of said song on a series of frames, corresponding in number to the proportional length of the note accompanying said word syllables to the length of a beat for that song; and forming all of said series into a connected sequence according to the reading sequence of said Words.

2. A system for determining the number of frames required in a song film for each word note of said song comprising determining the time required to play two measures of said song; translating this time into frames per beat of the song tempo; then determining the number of frames required for each word note by proportion be tween the length of that note and the beat note.

3. In a song film arranged to project the words of a song in sequence means for holding the attention of the audience during holds or pauses therein comprising: figures on said film arranged to appear animated only during the projection of those portions of said film to be projected during said holds or pauses.

4. A song motion picture film having on successive frames thereof words 'of a song repeated on the several frames of the film as well as a pictorial figure disposed in the same location on the successive frames, a component portion of said figure being arranged in successively differing positions on said successive frames so as to create the illusion of movement of said'portion with said movements in tempo with said song. 5. A method for preparing a musical motion picture film having an animated figure moving in synchronism to the beats of a musical melody comprising: determining the time required to play a given portion of said melody; determining the approximate number of film frames necessary for a projection lasting the previously determined time; dividing the determined number of frames by the total number of beats in the measures played in that time to determine the number of frames required for each beat; photographing the movements of said figure so that each complete movement will occupy a series of frames each corresponding in number to the number of frames last determined for each beat; and forming all of said series into a connected sequence having a length necessary for a projection lasting the previously determined time.

6. In a method for preparing a musical motion picture film having an animated figure, the movements of animation of which are to be in synchronism to the melody notes of a musical melody, a system for determining the number of frames required for each melody note so that said movements will be in synchronism with said melody comprising: determining the time required to play a given portion of said melody;

translating this time into frames per beat of the melody tempo; then determining the number of frames required for each movement note by proportion between the length of the melody note accompanying that movement and the beat of the melody tempo.

WALDO JOHN CONKIE. 

